Fire-alarm-telegraph repeater



v 3Sheets-Sheet 1. E. ROGERS & M. G. CRANE. Fire-Alarm TelegraphRepeaters. No. 223,248. Patented Jan. 6,1880.

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E. ROGERS & M. G. CRANE. Pire=A1arm.Te1egraph Repeater& No. 223,248.Patented Jan. 6,1880.

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- 3 Sheets-Sheet; 3. E. ROGERS & M. G. CRANE Fire-Alarm TelegraphRepeaters. No. 223,248. Patented Jan. 6, 1880.,

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN ROGERS, OF BROOKLINE, AND MOSES G. CRANE, OF NE\VTON, M ASSAGHUSETTS.

FlRE-ALARM-TELEGRAPH REPEATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 223,248, dated January6, 1880.

Application filed May 26, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, EDWIN ROGERS, 0t

Brookline, county of Norfolk, and Mosns G. CRANE, of Newton, county ofMiddlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inFire-Alarm Telegraphs, of which the following description, in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to fire-alarm telegraphs, and is hereinillustrated as applied to that class of apparatus designated as an auto'matic re naater, whereby a signal being transmitted over one circuit isautomatically re peated over all the other independent circuitsconnected with the repeater, the object of the invention being to soplace the repeater under the control of the circuit which starts it thatit cannot be interfered with by any other cir cuit until the workrequired of the repeater by the first circuit is accomplished.

The repeater, when at rest and in its normal condition, acts to hold allthe circuits closed if the connections are complete. The breaking of acircuit permits the armature of the electro-magnet of that circuit tofall back and start the repeater to break all the other circuits butjust before or at the time the said circuits are broken the locking-outdevices are automatically operated by a shaft and lookingout train toforce down suitable hooks or catches to lock the main armatures of theelectro-magnets of all the other circuits, so that they will be heldagainst their magnets, to thereby prevent the said armatures from beingmoved back and affecting the repeater when theelectric circuit isbroken, which would interfere with the repeater that it is desired toplace exclusively under the control of one circuit.

The books to operate and hold the main armatures, as described,are'shown as weighted levers, provided at their hooked ends witharmatures, these latter armatures, when the circuits are closed, actingto so move the hooks as to leave the main armatures free to move whenthe circuit breaks. The main armature is withdrawn from the magnetquickly, as by a spring, while the armature which moves the said leverand hook, and which we shall call the auxiliary armature, is made tomove more slowly than the main armature, thereby permitting the mainarmature to be thrown back when the circuit is broken before theauxiliary armature and the hook operated by it can descend and catch it.This slower motion of the arm ature may be attained in various ways, asherein shown. The leverand auxiliary armature are operated by gravity,and are of great enough weight to be sufficiently retarded by inertia.These hooks also operate to hold in place the main armature of anycircuit in which, for any fault, the circuit is broken or left open.

To the train of gears we have added asuitable cam and connections,whereby we are ena bled to automatically move all the main armatures ofthe electro-magnetsin all the circuits up to their respective poles, tothereby save greatly in battery-power, for a very weak current will holdan armature against the poles of an electro-magnet, while a strongcurrent would be required to draw the said armature through anyconsiderable space. In this our plan we are at liberty to move the mainarmatures any desired distance away from their poles, thereby enablingus to save fine and expensive fitting or adjustments and insure greateraccuracy of working, this feature of automatically and mechanicallymovil'lg the armatures up to their poles after being released by thebreak of a current being especially available and desirable where thearmatures are to be madeoperative for other purposes.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus containing our invention;Fi 2, a top view thereof; Fig. 3, a sectional detail, showing oneelectro-magnet, its armatures, and their operatin g devices, includingthe locking-out device; Fig. 4, a detail of the shaft and its 0011-nections between the circuitbreaker and the main armatures; Fig. 5, arear-end view of the lever which releases the locking-out train ofgearing which operates the shaft that carries the locking-out devices;Fig. 6, a side view thereof, showing the said lever,and the locking-armof the said locking-out train; Fig. 7, a detail of the ends of thelevers or arms which carry the armatures; Fig. 8, a detail, showing therheotropes laid out or developed on a plane surface; Figs. 9 and 10,details of the lockin g-out devices, showing them in diflerentpositions. 1

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The circuit-breaking cylinder 0, provided, as usual, with metal platesand spaces between to contact with the circuit-sprin gs b b 0 0,according to the number of circuits, (two springs being used for eachcircuit,) is provided with a pinion, d, engaged by a toothed wheel, d,on the shaft (1 which is driven in any usual wayas, for instance, bymeans of a cord, (1 having an attached weight, or by a clock-spring. Thetoothed gear 0 on the shaft a. engages the pinion e on the shaft 6 anddrives the usual regulating-fan 6 At the end of shaft to are two cams, fg. The cam f is adapted to act upon the roll of a lever, f, loose on theshaft h, but held frictionally thereon by a spring, f (see Fig. 5,) tooperate the said lever at the proper time, so that its facef notched atf, will release the arm 2' on the shaft '5' of the locking-out train, aprojection, 3, on the said arm passing through the said notch. Thisshaft z" is provided with the bevel-pinion i that engages thebevel-pinion i on the shaft i that, provided with the eccentrics i atthe proper time act uates the locking-out devices i herein shown asweigl'ited'arms or levers, notched at their lower ends, as at 1 (seeFig. 3,) and mounted loosely, for purposes hereinafter described, on thesaid eccentrics, the arms i bein g sufficiently heavy at i to keep theirlower ends pressed toward the ends of the levers r.

The earn 9 on the shaft a acts upon the roll of a portion of the arm 9projecting from the shaft 9 this arm g being provided with thelocking-pin 9 which acts upon and holds the locking-lever g inits normalposition, as shown in Fig. 1, all the circuits being then closed.

The pin-carrying armg is, by a link, 9 connected with the arm 9 of arock-shaft, provided with a series of arms, g having adjusting-screws 9which act upon the outer sides of the arms of the main armatures jj toplace them against the poles x 00 of their respective electro-magnets m00*", of usual construction. \Vhen the arm 9 is thrown down by the cam gthe said armatures are mechanically moved up to their poles m a withoutthe aid of battery-power.

The shaft h of the time-train, driven by a cord, h, and weight, or by aspring,in any usual way, has upon it a gear, 7L2, that engages thepinion [L3 on a shaft provided with a gear, h, that, in turn, engages apinion, 7r", (shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1,) on a shaft provided withan escapement-wheel, h, engaged by an es or by a spring, in any usualway.

When the repeater is in its normal condition the roll of the lever frests upon the cam f at its point of smallest radius, the cam then beingas in Fig. 1, the locking-lever g resting against the pin 9 We have soshaped the said cam j that atthe commencement of its motion,'thelockinglever being then released from the pin g by the opening of one ofthe circuits, which releases the main armature of itsmagnet, Whereuponsaid armature, drawn back by the spring, acts, through the lever 9 shaftg arm g and link F, to raise the lever g and pin 1 said cam f willpositively lift the lever f, bringing its notched partj' into positionto permit the passage through it of the end 21. of the arm t, whichreleases the looking out train and permits it to turn the shaft 45 onehalf a revolution, when the end 22, which is longer than 21, stops onthe part 5 of the facef As the bevel-gears i i have the same nuur ber ofteeth, this half-revolution of shaft 1" turns the shaft i half arevolution, and throws down the lockingout devices 2' upon the leversi", which act to hook over or catch upon and hold the main armatures, asbefore described, the shaft t" of the said locking-out train at the sametime turning the locking-cam 7.0 so far as to release the pallet of theescapement-wheel of the time-train, permitting the said time-train to beoperated by its weight or spring while the arm f is further elevated orfully raised.

The cam having rotated once with its shaft, the locking-arm g is held bythe pin 9 of the lever g, and the arm f, connected frictionally with theshaft h by the spring f as described, begins to travel with the saidshaft 71 moving gradually but slowly backward under the con; trol of thetime-train to ward the point of smallest radius of the cam f; and justbefore the arm f reaches its lowest position the notched part j' againreleases the arm i, and permits the locking-out train to again operateits main shaft "5" half a revolution, when the end 21 of arm tis againlocked upon the part 4 of the facef; whereas, when the arm 41 was lockedand the leverf was being raised by that part of the cam f having longestradius, the end 22 of the arm 12 was held by the portion 5 of the saidface f.

The cam f is so shaped and the time-train is so proportioned withrelation to it and the lever f that the said lever, moved up quickly bythe cam and back slowly by the time-train, shall occupy in its returnmovement a length of time, measured by seconds, which shall be in excessof the pause or number of seconds determined upon for the intervalbetween the repetitions of the complete 11 um her to be sounded on theprimary sounders or bells of the circuits then in operation; but withacompound number, as forty-two, the space between the four strokes andthe two strokes being shorter than the interval between the repetitionsof the complete number, (forty-two,) the leverf does not have anopportunity to completely descend, and consequently the arm 11, during vthe time the signals are being sounded, is comlevers r and causingtheir-hooks r to engage and hold the main armatures, as shown in Fig. 9,co-operating with them, so that when the circuits of all the magnets aresubsequently broken by the circuit-breaker of the repeater the mainarmatures of the electro-magnets which it is desired to lock out cannotfall back away from their respective poles.

The locking-out device i for the circuit which is in operation isprevented by the projection i", which rests upon the arm as of the mainarmature, as shown at Fig. 10, from engaging, by the shoulder i", theend of the lever 1, and, owing to the space between the eccentric i andits strap, the shoulder i still does not engage the end of the lever a"when the arm 00 is brought up by the lever g and caught by the hook W,as shown in Fig. 7.

In operation, the circuits being closed and the parts being in theposition shown in Fi 3, both armatures against the magnets and the hooks1' clear from the arms :20, when a circuit, as that of theelectro-maguet af, is broken the main armature j is acted upon andthrown back quickly by the spring 19, made adjustable, as herein shown,by a screw, 19, and a nut; but the lever r, pivoted at r, having connected with it the auxiliary armature s, is provided with an adjustablecounter-weight, N, which, as the armature s is released, acts to movethe said lever r so slowly that the hook of the said lever is unable tocatch and hold the arm as of the rapidly-mm'ing main armature.

Themain armature as moved by the spring strikes the screw 9 moving thearm 9, which, by its connections, raises the lockingpin g freeing thearm 9 to thereby permit its shaft to rotate, operating thecircuit-breaker a and, by the cam f, the locking-out device, as beforedescribed. At the same time the cam y depresses the lever g, and it,through its connections with the shaft g and arms 9 mechanically movesthe main armature j up to the poles of its magnet, where it is held by.the hook r", which falls over it, as shown in Fig. 7, as long as thecircuit remains open, and upon the closing of the circuit it is held bythe magnet, which also attracts the auxiliary armature, thereby raisingthe book 1' and leaving the arm a: free to act as before upon a'newbreaking of the circuit.

I It will be seen that by pivoting the carrying-lever r of the auxiliaryarmature s, as shown, at a considerable horizontal distance from thepoles of the magnet, and arranging said armature s to be attracted tothe sides of the cores of the magnet in a direction substantially atright angles to the axes thereof, while the main armature moves insubstantially the same direction with the axes of the cores, the hook ris enabled by the action of gravity alone, the circuit being open, toreadily engage the end of the arm as of the main armature when broughtup'and held for a moment in front of the poles by the arm 9 andconnected devices, and then to disengage when the circuit is closed, thebook being then raised through the auxiliary armature s by theattraction of the magnet, and again, when desired, to engage the arm aswhen the circuit is closed, the auxiliary armature being then positivelybroken away from the magnet by the locking devices i The abovedesc'ribedrelative arrangement of the magnet, its armatures, and their pivotsforms an exceedingly simple and effective.

means for effecting the desired movements and conditions of thearmatures under the various circumstances described.

If the lever 4' were operated merely by its own weight, there would bedanger that it might be held by the magnetism lingering in theelectro-magnet after the circuit is broken. To obviate this diflicultywe provide a cam, 10, (see Fig. 7,) upon the arm 00, which acts upon thepin or projection 10 to positively depress the end of the lever 1" asthe main armature moves away from the magnet, the cam w, however, notstriking the pin 20' until the arm as has passed beyond the hook 1. Itis obvious that-this may be accomplished in other ways, as by a spring,it only being necessary for the movement of the lever a" to be too slowto catch byits hook r the arm aof the main armature.

When sufficient time has elapsed for the time-train to release, bymovement of the lever f, the arm 71 of the locking-train, the finalhalf-rotation of the shaft 13* lifts all the locking-out devices 2 andreleases the levers a" above the ends of the armature-holding arms ac,the main armatures j j and the auxiliary armatures s 8 being thereafterheld closed against the poles of the electro-magnets by the currentpassing through the circuits ready to be broken and operated, as beforedescribed.

The rheotropes ll for reversing the currents in the usual way are placedon the shaft 5 which operates the locking-out devices, and, as hereinshown, the spring-fingers m m and not, the former to complete theline-circuit and the latter to complete the battery-circuit, areinsulated and supported near the electromagnets. As herein employed,these rheotropes (represented as laid out or developed in Fig. 8) areshown as composed each of eight pieces or strips of metal, 10 ll l2 l3l4. 15 16 17. The ends of the strips l0 l2 and l4 16 are connected bymetal strips 18, and the ends of 11 and 15 are connected by metal strips19 passing beneath and insulated from 13, as shown by dotted lines, andthe ends of i3 and 17 with a metal strip, :40. (Shown in dotted lines.)

Following one circuit, the course of the cur- 4 seams rent is asfollows: The binding-posts are connected with the poles of the battery,and the current passes by wire 8 from the bindingscrew 6 through thecoils of the magnet to the spring-iii'iger a, and thence, when therheotrope is in the normal condition, the machine not sounding butwaiting an alarm, through the metal strips 14 18 16 of said rheotrope tothe spring-finger m and wire 25, from which the said current passesthrough the springfingers b b andcircuit-breaker to the wire 26, whichis connected with the biniili1'1g-post27, for attaching one end of themain line. The other post, 7, is connected by wire 9 with the finger n,pieces 12 18 10 of the rheorrope, and spring-finger m, and thence bywire 28 with the binding-post 29, for attaching the other end of themain line. Thus, when the rheotrope is in its normal condition, thebindingposts 27 29 are connected with the same poles ofthe battery,respectively, as the ones marked 6 and 7; but when the rheotrope isreversed, as while a signal is being struck, the current passes from thespring-finger n to the one in, and from n to m, therebyconnectingbindingscrews 6 and 29 and 7 and 27, thus, because of the position ofthe electro-magnet between the battery and rheotrope, having reversedthe current through the main line to change the polarity of the magnetsin the signal-boxes of the circuit, to thereby avoid interlerencebetween boXes, without, however, having reversed the current through theelectro-magnet.

This plan of changingthe polarity of the magnets of the signal-boxes isnotnew, as such provision has been made to shunt asignal-box; but inthis our method we change the polarit-yof the magnet to actuate a blockand placeit in such position with relation to the operating lever orpull of the signal-box that the movement 01" the said lever or pullcannot lift the holding or locking arm or catch to disengage thecircuit-breaking wheel of the signal-box, and consequently the boxes inwhich the polarity of the magnetsis changed cannot be released to sounda signal.

A signal-box containing this invention re ferred to forms thesubject-matter of another application for patent filed concurrently withthis.

The apparatus has been so far described as to be locked on the closedcircuit; but to adapt it to lock on the open circuit while the alarm isbeing given, as in United States Patent No. 165,923, we may interpose alever with a locking-pin upon it n'eceding the present pin g said leverbeing operated by the shaft 1?, which sets in motion the locking-outdevices.

We claim 1. In combination, a circuit-breaker, an electro-magnet and itsarmature, and a mechanical motor automatically set in operation upon thebreaking of the circuit and consequent re lease of the armature from itsmagnet to immediately move the armature back to the poles of the magnet,as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In an electric apparatus, a circuit-breaker,

an electro-magnet and its armature, and a mechanical motor automaticallyoperated to return the armature to the poles of the magnet immediatelyafter it has been released therefrom by the breaking of the circuit,combined with a-detent adapted to catch and hold the armature up to thepoles of the magnet as long as the circuit remains open, and to bedisengaged assoon as the circuit is closed, thereby leaving saidarmature free to again fall away from the magnet by another opening ofthe circuit, substantially as described.

W In an electromagnetic apparatus, a circuit-breaking wheel or shaft, acam and lever actuated by it to release the holding-arm of a locking-outtrain, combined with an independent looking out train, substantially asdescribed, a shaft, and locking-out devices actuated thereby toautomatically lock one or more of the main armatures of a series ofelectromagnets and hold them up to their respective poles when thecircuit is broken by the circuitbreaking wheel, substantially as and forthe purpose described.

4-. In an electro-magnetic apparatus, one electro magnet and a springactuated main armature, combined with an auxiliary armature and aconnected hooked lever of sufficient weight as by its inertia to act soslowly as to thereby enable the main armature to be moved so quickly asnot to be caught by the lever of the auxiliary armature, substantiallyas de scribed.

5. The combination, with a time-train of an electro-magnetic apparatus,as described, of a lockingcam and mechanism to rotate it at certainintervals to lock and release the pallet of the escapement of thetime-train, substantially as and for the purpose described.

6. The intermittingly-operated shaft i and its eccentrics, combined withthe lockingout devices to engage the levers which catch and hold themain armatures, substantially as and for the purpose described.

7. Themechanically-drivenlocking-out train and its arm 11, combined witha lever having a notched face, and actuated by a cam set in motion byamechanically-driven train, which operates the circuit-breaking wheel ofthe repeater, substantially as and for the purpose described.

8. The mechanicallydriven locking out train, an arm, '1, thereon, alocking device for IIO the said arm, and alocking-out cam, combined witha mechanically-driven time-train and a weighted pallet provided with afinger acted upon by the locking-out cam, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

9. The combination, with the circuit-breaking shaft or wheel, itslocking-arm g and cam g, of the pin-carrying lever g, link 9'',rockshat't, and armature-moving arms 9 as and for the purpose described.

10. The combination, with the main armature, its arm, and cam 10, of thelever r and its pin or projection, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

11. The combination, with the shaft i of the loosely-held locking-outdevice i weighted to cause its lower end to be held pressed toward andto engage a projecting portion of the lever r, substantially as and forthe purpose de scribed.

12. The locking-out device, provided with a shoulder to act upon thelevers r of the electromagnets of the circuits upon which the signal isbeing repeated, and a projection and looselyfitting eccentric-strap toprevent it from acting upon the lever of the electro-magnetof thecircuit giving the signal, substantially as de scribed.

13. In an electro-magnetic apparatus substantially such as described, anelectro-magnet placed in circuit between the battery and a rheotrope toavoid the reversal 'of the current through the said magnet when therheotrope reverses the currents of the main lines, combined with arheotrope and means to connect it with the battery and main line,substantially as and for the purpose described.

14. The combination, with the same electromagnet, of two independentarmatures to be attracted by the poles of the magnet when the circuit isclosed, and means connected with the arm of one of the said armatures toenable it to engage and hold the other one up to the poles of themagnet, as may be desired when the electric circuit is open,substantially as described.

15. The combination, with the shaft of the time-train, ofafrictionally-held arm provided with a notched flange, the said armbeing the arm of. thelocking-out train, to co-operate with the saidnotched face and hold or release the locking-out train at the properperiods, substantially as described.

17. The combination, with a single electromagnet and two armatures, of afinger or projection on one to operate upon a portion of the otherarmature or its arm to positively disengage one armature from the saidelectromagnet when the other is released by breaking the circuit,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWIN ROGERS. MOSES G. CRANE.

Witnesses:

J os. P. LIVERMORE, N. E. WHITNEY.

